Meat-chopper



(No Model.) 2 Sheets.-Sheec 1.

A. O. RANKIN.

MEAT CHOPPER. No. 473,779. Patented Apr. 26, 1892.

ms uoarus PETERS 00., PHOY0-LTHO., WASHINGTON. n, c.

' (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

A. 0. RANKIN.

MEAT CHOPPER.

No. 473,779. Patented Apr. 26,1892.

v 74 I I I gm w 1145 News PETERS cu, mm'u umc, WASHXNC-TUN, a. c.

UNITE STATES PATENT @FFICE.

ALEXANDER O. RANKIN, 0F GLENFIELD, PENNSYLVANIA.

MEAT-CHOPPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 473,779, dated April26, 1892. Application filed July 30, 1891. Serial No. 401,149. (Nomodel.)

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER O. RANKIN, a resident of Glenfield, in thecounty of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in Meat-Choppers; and I do hereby declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to what are known as meat-choppers, its objectbeing to form a meat-chopper which can be driven by footpower, and toprovide mechanism for so operating, as well as to improve the chopper inother particulars. The usual construction of meat-choppers is such thatthe labor of driving it by hand or man power is severe, and therefore ithas generally been found necessary to provide steam-power for operatingthese choppers. This is of course objectionable, as the ordinary butcherhas not any other requirement for steam-power, and it therefore addsconsiderably to the cost of operating such a machine. By the machineembodied in the present invention the power is applied in such way as toovercome this difliculty,a simple and efficient foot or treadle powerbeing utilized, by which the weight of the person can be employed, andwhich is simple in construction and in its connection with themeat-chopper, so that the work is not laborious and a power amplysufficient for the purpose is obtained.

Another cost in the construction and operation of these machines is inthe mounting of the cutters, and by the present invention a simple,efficient, and cheap construction of guiding mechanism for this purposeis obtained. In applying such treadle-power to the ordinary machinedifficulty is found in the adjustment of the parts of the machine, so asto bring the knives in proper position for cutting and to apply thepower properly under such conditions; and the principal object of myinvention is to overcome such difficulty.

Another object is to provide for the easy and proper grinding of theknives or cutters without requiring the removal of the knives from theknife-holders at each grinding operation and the adjustment of the sameupon the knife-holders after sharpenin In my improvement inmeat-choppers I employ a driving crank-shaft carrying a sprocket-Wheel,levers fulcrurned back of the cran kshaft and extending over and bearingon the cranks thereof, a vertically-adjustable frame.

ing in separate bearings extending above and below the cross-head andeach carrying a single knife or cutter, so that a sufficient number ofknives for the cutting operation in an ordinary chopper is employedwithout increasing the number of cranks on the shaft, while each knifeis separate and is supported on its own knife-holder and can be removedand sharpened and replaced independently of any other knife, thedifficulty of adjustment of the knives upon knife-holders carry- 1 ingmore than a single knife being thus overcome.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willdescribe the same more fully, referring to the accompanying drawings, inwhich- Figure 1 is a face view of the machine, the block and pan beingshown in central section. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the lowerpart of the machine on the line 2 2, Fig. 1, showing the lever mechanismand the lower ends of the cutter-shafts. Fig. 3 is a plan view of thelower part of the machine, showing the driving mechanism. Fig. 4 is asection on the line 4, Fig. 1; and Fig. 5is a section on the line 5,Fig. 1.

Like letters of reference indicate like parts in each.

The frame a of the machine is of the same general construction as theordinary machine, and secured therein in the usual way is the block 1),around which is the rim or cylindrical pan 1) for confining the meat tobe chopped upon the block. In the machine illustrated the knives 0,their shafts d, and the crank 01, operating the knives through thepitman e,

ICO

are mounted in the vertical and adjustable framef, which is adjusted inthe main frame a by means of adj usting-screws f passing through nuts onthe frame, and from which screws the frame is hung, the frame feeding insuitable guideways in the main frame. At one end of the crank-shaft e isthe flywheel E, by means of which thespeed of the machine is maintained.

Instead of mounting two or more knives on each shaft and connecting eachshaft centrally to the cross-head and guiding the shafts only by meansof the bearing in the lower ends of the frame f, which is the usualconstruction, I provide a shaft d for each knife and mount each shaft inbearings g g, above and below the pitman by which the shaft is operated,so holding each shaft in true line at points some distancefrom eachother and so obtaining a more perfect guiding of the shafts, and tooperate two such shafts by each cross-head, so that in a machine havingfour knives the crank-shaft 6 requires but two cranks with theiraccompanying pitmen and thereon by a set-screw cross-heads. I connecteach knife 0 to one such shaft 61 by means of a knife-holdert', suchknife-holder having a socket 71 to receive the end of the shaft andbeing held 7 The knives c are adjustable upon the knife-holders by meansof slots formed in the knives, the knives being held to theknife-holders by suitable screws. remove each knife separately, and eachknife is supported on a separate knife-holder, so that the edge thereofcan be easily presented to the grindstone for sharpening, and thedifficulty heretofore experienced in sharpening the knives where two aremounted on the knife-holder, which requires that the knives shall beremoved from the knife-holder for grinding and subsequently adjustedthereon, is overcome. By the present construction each knife can beground when supported on its knife-holder and immediately replaced uponthe knife-shaft 61, so that no change in the adjustment of the knifeupon the knifeholder is necessary. I form the knife-shafts dof simpleround polished bar, which can be obtained at comparatively low costready to be cut to length and inserted in the machine, and may eitheremploy a bearing having a simple round seat for the same or, aspreferred by me, may employ roller-bearin gs for such shafts, theconstruction of such roller-bearings being shown more particularly inFig. 4, in which the frame f has formed therein pockets 9 extending backfrom the line of the shaft to receive the rollers Z, mounted in suchpockets, and the cap-pieces g have like pockets formed therein in whichthe rollers Z are mounted, the pockets being secured to the frame bysuitable bolts, and to provide foradjustmentcompressible washersl formedof rubber or like material, being inserted between the body of the frameand the flanges of the cap-pieces, so that a neat adjustment Suchconstruction enables me to' of the'rollers to the knife-shafts isobtained, friction in this way being reduced to the minim um.

Mounted in the lower part of the main frame a, underneath the block b,is the driving crank-shaft m, which shaft has the two cranks m m formedtherein, and around the cranks are form ed roller-sleeves n, which aremade in two halves and fitted around the cranks and held thereonbyscrews n, as shown in Fig. 5. Such roller-sleeves are desirable, butnot necessary for the operation of the driving mechanism. Pivoted orfulcrumed in bearings at the rear of the main frame are thedriving-levers r 1", these levers having at the forward or free endsthereof the pedals r 0 on which the operator stands in driving themachine, an extremely simple and strong form of driving mechanism beingthus obtained, as there is no adjustment of the levers to the cranks,the cranks or their rollersleeves simply traveling along the lowersurface of the levers as the machine is operated, which lever-surfacesmay be hardened, if desired, and there being no pins or like smallconnections to wear.

For driving the machinelemploya sprocket-wheel s on one end of thedriving crankshaft m and connecting thesame to the driving mechanism ofthe chopper, the connection shown being a shaft 15, mounted in theframefand carrying at the upper end thereof a sprocket-wheel s, which isconnected to the sprocket s by the sprocket-chain s and the shaft 25carries a gear-wheel t, which meshes with the pinion t on thecrank-shaft e, mounted in said frame f. By such construction the poweris transmitted from the crank-shaft m to the crank-shaft e, and thenecessary increase in speed for the driving of the knives is obtained.Any other suitable connection for the purpose may of course be employed.

'lo rotate the block and pan, I employ on the driving crank-shaft m apinion a, which meshes with a larger pinion or gear-wheel 'Lb' on theshaft M, which is mounted in the frame a. To the lower edge of the blockor pan I secure an annular rack 10 with which the gear-wheel a meshes toturn the same.

In the operation of the machine, after the knives have been properlyadjusted so as to touch but not cut into the block either by theadjustment of the framef in the main frame a or of the knives upon theknife-holder, the meat to be chopped is placed. within the pan and theoperator then stands upon the pedals, a handle-bracket 2) being securedto the upper part of the frame f orothersuitable point in the upper partof the machine, so as-to give 1 him the necessary support, and hedepresses high speed of the cutting-knives is obtained. He thus pressesdown first one pedal and then the other, and the speed of rotation ofthe flywheel is sufficient to overcome his weight and maintain thenecessary speed of the machine as he steps from one pedal to the other,a driving mechanism which is exceedingly easily operated being thusobtained, and the weight of the operators body being brought into playfor the operation of the machine, while as the crank-shaft turns underthe pressure of the levers the roller-sleeves on the cranks thereofsimply travel along the under face of the driving-levers which restthereon, so that there is little or no friction between the levers andthe cranks. The power is transmitted from this driving-shaft through thesprocket s and sprocket-chain s tothe sprocket s, and thence through theshaft 6 and gear-wheels t t to the crank-shaft e, and is imparted fromsaid crank-shaft through the pitmen b and cross-heads c to theknifeshafts d, the mechanism being thus arranged to transmit the powerfrom the driving crankshaft to the shaft operating the pitmen which isarranged in a vertically-adjustable frame, no matter to what extent suchframe maybe adjusted, according to the wear on the knives. During theoperation the knife-shafts are guided in their movement by the bearingsg g, and as they are held in line by these hearings above and below thecross-heads there is practically no wear on the bearings nor opportunityfor the knife-shafts to Wabble or wear in their movement. At the sametime the rollers of the bearings overcome friction, and an easyadjustment of such rollers to the knife-shafts is obtained, while, asthe rollers may be cast to shape and the knifeshafts are formed ofsimple polished round bars, the cost of the same is very low. When it isnecessary to grind the knives, all that is necessary is to loosen theset-screws t and remove the knife-holders from the shafts when eachknife may be separately presented to the grindstone, and when ground maybe brought back to exactly the same position by means of the sockets andset-screws. The machine is found to operate very rapidly and with littleor no friction or wear, and to be efficient for the purpose intended. Itis evident that the driving mechanism may be applied to choppers ofother construction and like machines.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In meat-choppers, the combination of a driving crank-shaf t carryinga sprocket-wheel levers fulcrumed back of the crank-shaft and extendingover and bearing on the cranks thereof, a vertically-adjustable framecarrying a shaft provided with a sprocket-wheel, a chain I connectingsaid wheels, and a crankshaft in said vertically adjustable frame gearedto said sprocket-wheel and driving the reciprocating cutting-knives bypitmen, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In meat-choppers, the combination of a crank-shaft, a pitman, across-head, and two separate knife-shafts connected to the crosshead andeach reciprocating in separate bearings extending above and below thecrosshead, each said knife-shaft carrying a single knife, substantiallyas and for the purposes set forth.

3. In meat-choppers and like machines, the combination of a drivingcrank-shaft mounted in the lower part of the machine-frame, driving-levers fulcrumed back of said crank-shaft and extending forward overthe cranks thereof, connections from said crank-shaft to the operativemechanism of the machine, and a stationary hand-bracket supported on thema chine and extending forward from the upper part thereof above theouter ends of said driving-levers, substantially as and for the purposesset forth.

In testimony whereof I, the said ALEXAN- DER O. RANKIN, have hereuntoset my hand.

ALEXANDER C. RANKIN.

Witnesses:

JAMES I. KAY, J. N. 000KB.

